Hazardous Duty - Factory Work During the Industrial Revolution
By Sharon Fabian

1 Working in the factories of the Industrial Revolution was hazardous. The factory workers faced safety hazards, health hazards, and cruel treatment.2 Factory machines were the latest technology, and factory owners were anxious to get their machines up and running. Safety was not a major concern. Dangerous parts of machines were not screened off. Machines were not equipped with features to make them shut off in case of an accident.3 Machine operators in textile mills, many of them young women, often had to reach over and around operating machinery as they did their job. Children hired as scavengers had to crawl under the machines to retrieve loose bits of cotton. Slightly older children hired as piecers had to step up onto the machines to tie loose threads back together. Injuries to these workers were frequent. In mill towns, many workers could be seen who had lost an arm or a leg to the machinery.4 Workers in the factories developed medical problems, too. The pollution and dust that were constantly in the air led to the illness known as mill fever. It was a dreaded disease, and it took many lives.